Sweden’s National Portrait Gallery chose 20-time swimming World Champion Sarah Sjostrom for its 2025 Portrait of Honour. A picture of a pregnant Sjostrom, shot by Magnus Ragnvid, will be permanently hung in the Gripsholm Castle. Sjostrom wears a blue dress, made by Swedish designer Lars Wallin, against a backdrop of water.
See the portrait on Ragnvid’s Instagram below:
At 32 years of age, Sjostrom is Sweden’s most successful swimmer in history. As previously mentioned, Sjostrom has 20 world titles to her name. She also has six Olympic medals (three of them gold) and 29 European Championship titles in her collection. The sprint titan has broken a plethora of world records in both butterfly and freestyle events. Most notably among them is her famed 24.43 LC 50 fly world record from 2014, which for many years was the most dominant swimming world record in the books.
Her dominance spans across three decades, from breaking her first world record in the 100 fly at 15 years of age in 2009, to a surprise double gold outing in the sprint freestyle events at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Sjostrom’s accomplishments are well recognized in the Swedish sports world; she’s won the Scandinavian country’s Athlete of the Year Award seven times, the most of any athlete.
With the Portrait of Honour, Sjostrom joins the ranks of accomplished Swedes in a variety of areas. Past recipients include pop producer superstar Max Martin, ABBA’s Benny Andersson, and film producer Ingmar Bergman.
Sjostrom has temporarily taken a step back from swimming after the Paris Olympics. In that time, she and partner Johan de Jong Skierus have welcomed their first child, Adrian. Sjostrom is pregnant with Adrian in her portrait. She has asserted several times that she intends to return to competition and swim at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
I have nothing to say about the KADY HERSELF, other than its a great photo BUT……..what kind of shit ass backdrop is THAT? it is 2025…….PERHAPS its because I am in MERICA BUT……there is no WAY we would have that shit ass ‘backdrop of “water”‘ on our magazine cover.
Was it a surprise that she won freestyle 2 Golds at Paris?
It was a surprise. She wasn’t even “100% commmited” to the 100m freestyle and was only 6th fastest qualifier into the final. That was an absolutely well calculated gold medal. She was under the radar all season, appearing to focus on the 50 freestyle where she was a lock for gold. Even in the 4x100m freestyle relay lead off, she sort off “held back” in order not to show off her cards to her competitors. You’ll recall at the 2017 worlds she led off 400FRR in 51.71 only to be edged out for gold by Simone Manuel in the individual 100m freestyle. At Paris 2024, Sarah really played her cards so well and as it turned out, all pressure was… Read more »
Even she was surprised by the 100m.
😍😍😍💯
Amazing!
backdrop of “water” is a bit of stretch… But she looks stunning.
Tf
That’s some AI looking garbage, she’s beautiful tho.
Officially this post is offensive.
(but hilarious)
Yes it is.
(No it isn’t.)